A general method for solving divide-and-conquer recurrences

  • Authors:
  • Jon Louis Bentley;Dorothea Haken;James B. Saxe

  • Affiliations:
  • Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Venue:
  • ACM SIGACT News
  • Year:
  • 1980

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Abstract

The approximate complexity of divide-and-conquer algorithms is often described by recurrence relations of the formT(n) = kT(n/c) + f(n).The only well-defined method currently used for solving such recurrences consists of solution tables for fixed functions f and varying k and c. In this note we describe a unifying method for solving these recurrences that is both general in applicability and easy to apply. This method is appropriate both as a classroom technique and as a tool for practicing algorithm designers.